The present is concerned with periodically operating, dry adsorption coolers. The coolers are of the type which includes an adsorption container filled with a solid adsorption substance which desorbs steam as an operating substance at a relatively high pressure and adsorbs during a subsequent adsorption phase at a relatively low pressure. The cooler also includes a condenser for liquifying the operating substance and also a subsequently disposed collection container. For many years, dry adsorption devices were used for cooling food stuffs. More recently and at present the more economical compression systems have replaced all of the periodic adsorption processes. Today there are only two continuously operating adsorption systems in use for certain cooling tasks and which operate on the basis of the liquid pairs of substances LiBr/H.sub.2 O and H.sub.2 O/NH.sub.3. In contrast, the more recently suggested pair of substances zeolite/water belongs to the dry pair of substance classification with which only a periodical cooling process is possible. This new pair of substances has very good thermodynamic characteristics, but its use in cooling technology is limited by the required periodical mode of operation.